Burlington locals are happy to see justice served for Kedarie Johnson's murder

Sunday

Nov 5, 2017 at 12:01 AM

Will Smith

It's been more than a year-and-a-half since Burlington Police found 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson's body in an alley, and the bleach his killers poured on him to cover evidence still stains the pavement.

Jenna Sansone, who lives at the house at Fourth and Walnut streets, pointed Saturday morning to a broad clean streak running down the alley. She vividly remembers the night Johnson was shot. His body was dumped next to her garage in the alley.

"You could smell the bleach all around," she said.

One of two men charged in the killing of Johnson, 23-year-old Jorge "Lumni" Sanders-Galvez, was found guilty of first-degree murder Friday. Sansone attended each day of the two-week-long trial, taking meticulous notes on the proceedings.

"I wanted to know what happened. It was important to me," she said.

Though Sansone didn't know Johnson personally, she and much of the surrounding community were anxious to see justice served.

When the verdict came down, "The Des Moines Register" quoted Kedarie's mother, Katrina Johnson, as saying "Justice was served for my baby!" in the courtroom hallway. Katrina did not talk to the media after the verdict and couldn't be reached for comment Saturday.

"My best goes out to (Kedarie's) family and friends. I hope they can find some peace," Sansone said.

Sansone was on the phone with her mother when she heard the gunshots that killed Kedarie.

"I thought it was a semi-automatic at first, because the shots I heard were bang, bang and then bang," she said.

Sansone called 911, but one of her neighbors had beat her to it. A patrol car came rolling down the street while Sansone was on the phone with the dispatcher, and she left her home to see what was happening.

"I went running with the cops down the alley," she said.

Sansone is a retired nurse and was hoping there was something she could do to help. There wasn't. Johnson had been bound, tortured and shot twice in the chest with a .357 revolver.

"The cops just came out and shook their heads," she said. "With those kind of injuries, you're going to bleed out in two minutes. You're not going to save anybody."

Searching for closure

Sansone's empathy for Kedarie's family was instant. Her nephew was shot to death in a murder-suicide about 15 years ago.

She's grateful Kedarie's body was found so quickly. She complimented the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Burlington Police detective Eric Short on their long investigation that led to the guilty conviction.

"To have this be an unsolved murder, where they never found anybody and they never went to trial, I think would have been almost untenable for the community. At least we have justice for Kedarie," she said.

Sansone realizes justice isn't the same as closure, especially since Kedarie's alleged second killer is set to stand trial in the future. Sansone hates the word closure anyway. As someone who's been through something similar, she said true closure doesn't really exist.

"Closure insinuates that everything is done and over with and that you can feel better now. That pain is always there for people," she said.

It took the jury about an hour to convict Sanders-Galvez Friday, and Sansone wasn't surprised by the verdict. She didn't think anyone else was, either.

"We knew what was coming," she said. "Several of the jurors walked by and looked at Katrina, and several of them had smiles on their faces."

She didn't expect Sanders-Galvez to take the stand, though.

"I was shocked. He certainly did not do himself any good," she said.

Kedarie the Volunteer

Everyone loved Kedarie.

His mother described him as trans-fluid, which means he sometimes dressed like a man, and sometimes dressed like a woman. He even used the name "Kandicee" when he put in his hair extensions, and his friends remember him as someone with sass and intelligence. His mother compared him to famous drag queen RuPaul Charles, who also alternates between a male and female persona.

But that hardly was Kedarie's only definable trait. He spent many afternoons at the Maple Leaf Center, teaching children to dance and helping whenever he could. Angie Brown, who manages the Kayla's Cupboard food pantry next to the center, remembers him as one of her most enthusiastic volunteers.

"He will always have a special place in my heart," she said.

Whenever a truckload of food arrived at the pantry, Brown would put out a call to the youth at the Maple Leaf Center to help stock shelves. She never asked for anyone by name, but odds were Kedarie would be there. His arms would be full, and when he saw one of his peers carrying nothing more than a small sack, he would chastise them good-naturedly.

"He would say 'Come on, you can do better than that,'" Brown said.

Brown would hand out candy for a job well done, but Kedarie refused to take any. At least in public.

"He was like, 'I don't need anything.' Then he tucked some candy in his pocket," Brown said.

Brown followed the trial to its conclusion and became emotional when she heard the verdict. She has no doubt it was the right decision.

"With justice being done, you can't ask for more," she said.

A city in mourning

It's been a rough couple years for Burlington. Shootings have become all too frequent, and some have resulted in death. But nothing rocked the community like the murder of a beloved high school student.

"It was sad from the very beginning, to hear about such a tragic event happening in the city," said Mayor Shane McCampbell.

Kedarie will not be forgotten, and with another upcoming trial, the saga is far from over. But Friday's guilty verdict is a strong first step toward resolution.

"If justice is served, then I'm always satisfied by the outcome," McCampbell said.

He noted it's a hollow satisfaction, though, and his heart goes out to both families.

"How can you ever be satisfied with something like this? This young man's life is forever altered because he took someone's life," he said of Sanders-Galvez.

Cindy Shireman, a criminal justice professor at Southeastern Community College, took her class to the trial. She created an LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) scholarship at SCC that has been awarded to one student already and is plans to name the scholarship after Kedarie.

She, too, thought justice was served.

"We were so happy to hear the verdict," she said.

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